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STScI is moving to further anonymize the HST peer review process and has developed a procedure in which authors’ identities are concealed to reviewers. Provided here are responses to common issues (presented as an FAQ) to provide general information to the community on these changes. See the Recommendations of the Working Group on Anonymizing Proposal Reviews Working Group Home site for information on the working group that compiled these guidelines, as well as the final report authored by the working group. See the Proposer Guidelines in Anonymous Reviews for help in preparing proposals; a similar page, Reviewer Guidelines in Anonymous Reviews, gives general guidelines to reviewers. 

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STScI places a high value on the equity and integrity of the proposal review process. The goal is to give each reviewer an unbiased look at the proposal. Several studies have shown that a reviewer's attitude toward a submission may be affected, either consciously or unconsciously, by the identity of the lead author or principal investigator (see reference papers).  We have noted that over the last 15 cycles, HST proposals led by women have had systematically and successively lower success rates than those lead by men (Reid 2014). While the exact cause is unknown, independent studies of our reviews suggest a double-anonymous process might help resolve this inequity, and may balance out other areas of potential bias including affiliation and country of origin. Such a process may also level the playing field between new and established researchers.

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For most of the review process, the panels will not know the identity of the proposers. Panels must focus on the scientific merit of the proposal and the technical justification describing the use of the telescope to address the science proposed, and make . This culminates in the panel making their ranked list of recommended programs. In addition to the panel chairs and the panel support staff, each panel will be assigned a "Leveler" for the duration of the review meeting. Levelers, who could be either STScI staff or external persons, will have received appropriate training , and will attend all panel discussions as observers, and are responsible for ensuring that the discussion focuses solely on the aforementioned criteria, and does not deviate into speculation of team identity or other inappropriate topics. Once the ranked list is set, the identities of the proposers will be shown to the panel, in the form of the "Team Expertise and Background" document that the proposers submitted to STScI. At this final stage, the panel may choose to flag proposals for disqualification if the reason for doing so is well-justified and agreed to by a majority of the panel members. Reasons for disqualification include, but are not limited to: significant ethical misconduct in misrepresenting the scientific expertise of the team, misleading the panel as to the availability of supporting resources, or any other attempts to deliberately and unethically subvert the process. Should the panel choose to flag a proposal, they must articulate the reasons why in an open discussion with the panelists, chair, Leveler, and other appropriate members of the Science Mission Office at STScI. This discussion will be documented, as will the panel's initial ranking of the proposal. This disqualification flag, which would result in a non-selection of the proposal, is only a recommendation from the panel; the final decision rests with the Director.

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First, it is a misconception that the review panels and the TAC allocate the time awarded for HST observations. The TAC makes recommendations to the STScI Director on which programs they feel are most worthy of observing time. The Director, as the selecting official, makes the final determination in coordination with appropriate members of STScI staff, including the Science Mission Office (SMO), HST Mission Office, ESA, and operations/scheduling staff. These recommended programs are also reviewed, with full identities exposed, during both the Phase II and Budget submissions by STScI staff and the Financial Review Committee (FRC). At Secondly, at the final stage of the panel review, when the "Team Expertise and Background" section is shown to the reviewers (with names included), any egregious ethical violations or misrepresentations can be flagged. These will be brought to the attention of the Director, as well as the host institutions of the proposal team, and, if necessary, the broader community. Any such proposals are subject to disqualification.

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In some respects, the reviewer conflicts with a given proposal are a bit simpler. If the reviewers do not know who the proposers are, how can they be conflicted? However, there will still be checks within our system for reviewer conflicts, largely institutional or collaborative, and those with identified conflicts will be excused from the review of the proposal. As always, reviewers can (and should) identify issues not identified by our system, personal conflicts or possible competing proposals. 

Won't this change make it harder to be awarded HST time?

To first order, no. Mathematically speaking, we're awarding the same amount of time as we have in previous cycles, meaning the same number of proposals will be accepted. If the number of submitted proposals were to rise, this would affect the oversubscription rate, but this has always been the case. This process is not about making it harder for some people or easier for others to get time, it's about ensuring that the best proposals are selected. Your best chance of being awarded observing time on HST is the same it has always been: think of a great idea, and write a great proposal.